Jure Eržen (Ljubljana, 1969.)
photojournalist
I have been working as a photographer in Delo, the biggest Slovene magazine, for 18 years. I fell in love with photography by chance when I visited a friend of mine who was working then as a technician in a darkroom. That darkness, red and green lightbulbs, trays with the developer and fixer, the special smell... I discovered an entrance to another world, somehow mysterious, dark, unknown, and for me also magical. Since my field photographs have been noticed by various editors and critics, I’ve had the luck to travel the world. I now have the possibility and an obligation to use my curiosity which I would otherwise have to hide. My most distinguished coverages are the following: USA, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Israel and Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, South Sudan, Somalia, DR Congo, Morocco, Europe and the area of former Yugoslavia. My biggest wish in life is to be invisible...with a mini camera.
Maja Gal Štromar (Novo Mesto, 1969.)
actress and writer
I have never written a short, let alone likable biography on request, although in the end, it became a long and entangled one. I haven’t played the role of Phaedra or Medea, although we met on the theatre stage, and those exercises would have lasted much longer if it weren’t for the syndicate. In other words, some of us women continue to speak long after the reflectors turn off. As a woman which comes from the coast, I have never learned how to swim front crawl because I’m afraid of putting my head under the surface; otherwise I’m a good diver. I often copy, at least from myself. I like to copy from her the most, although it sometimes seems that I carry her to the soundlessness. I love to make movies, even if I just film the backs of the people leaving or heart synapses. Without screenings and premieres. There lies the charm of it. First of all, I lie, and I lie often and a lot, although they like to call it literature. Sooner or later I had to happen. I, a stingy ich-form, incarnated coincidence which, between barely visible heart line and the head line, in the open palm of one Tuesday evening; give (s) birth to the wonderful metropolises of bacteria. Their thankfulness each time growing bigger.
Laibach (Ljubljana)
artistic and musical group
what we are, you will become / a parasite, absorbing souls / we’ll suck your culture / brains, energy, / implant your genes / to our collective being // come to us, / do not fight against us / we’ll raise the quality of life / for all of you / existence as you know it / is over. // we are Laibach / engineers of human souls, / resistance is futile / and you will be / assimilated by / Laibach Kunst Machine
Klemen Košir (Ljubljana, 1974.)
writer and gastronome
Ich, auch! Who would know who I am? I was born in the seventies, and I am still living in the eighties. Magazine Start has given me the wings to watch and read. And when I was reading, I was writing too. Zack, bam, tuck, tresk, I was raised by comic books. I drew and wrote my first sketches and short comics in elementary school. And then? A bit of Kafka, Miller, a handful of Ginsberg and here I am, samizdat of a cowboy, getting along with help of recipes and dishes. I am still wondering at the world, I still love illustration, and fuck it, I am still a rebel because part of me is still left somewhere in the eighties.
Metka Krašovec (Ljubljana, 1941.)
painter and graphic artist
When I was a girl I wanted to become a ballerina. I haven’t managed to do it, as I haven’t managed to engage in music. But there was something inside me which wanted to express itself. I loved to draw and I adored painting. That is the reason I decided to enrol the Art Academy while I was in high school. I have been an outsider my whole life because we moved a lot when I was a child. I am the same when it comes to my artwork. My works are not grounded in theory, they are rarely synchronized with the Zeitgeist; I am not suited to be a member of a pack. I have gone through many phases in my work, the single constant of it being the fact that everything I have done is basically a diary of my life.
Mojca Kumerdej (Ljubljana, 1964.)
writer, philosopher and critic
Both internal and external geographical and spiritual worlds open up to me mainly through literature as a core with whom science and other types of art are connected. I can start writing only when I find a suitable language, with specific rhythm, melody, density, colour spectre etc, no matter if there is an idea already formed in detail or just a motive or images without connection. I created my last novel Chronos’ Harvest as a time capsule, as a contemporary novel with cyclical structure, bearing resemblance to the solar system where celestial objects circle, from which the light of the other, distant galaxies can be seen and where lots of empty space, invisible dreams and energies exist. The black matter and the dark energy also settle in the universes of individuals in my collections of short prose The Dark Matter and Fragma, and the endless empty space tears up the sky above the main character of my first novel The Cross above Triglav.
Svetlana Makarovič (Maribor,1939.)
writer, actress, illustrator and singer
The dark diva of Slovenian poetry who is still on the move at the age of 77. Svetlana is a many-sided artist, a writer, an actor, a singer and an illustrator. Besides being a poetry and prose writer, she has also established herself in radio and puppet shows for children as well as plays for the adult audience. She is also famous for one of the most extensive Slovenian bibliographies (which includes more than 300 titles) and for non-compliance to social conditions. She says about herself: “I am a loner, and sometimes I withdraw into solitude for a month. I just talk with cats, flowers, trees. But it is very nice to come back and hug someone sincerely.“ She is going to present herself in Pula as a poet and a chanteuse with an art project which unites renowned names both from the music and theatre scene, with an ensemble which changes from concert to concert making the complete line-up always unforeseeable. “Of course I feel like a chanteuse. I don‘t approve of false modesty. I consider myself… the queen of the Slovene chanson, whether the crown can be seen or not. I don‘t have to wear it all the time.“
Zoran Predin (Maribor, 1958.)
My greatest accomplishments in life, besides managing to stay alive and healthy, are probably my five kids, thirty-six music albums, and four books – three poetry collections and an easy-read pocket book. After about two thousand and five hundred concerts I decided to live until the end of my life as a lone wolf, with the love of my life and a few real friends. I surrender my further destiny to the audience.
Sebastijan Pregelj (Ljubljana, 1970.)
writer
I was born on the last Wednesday in June of the year 1970. I am certain it was a sunny day. As a child, I used to talk a lot. And object to everything. I knew I will become a writer when I was in the 5th grade. I told my teacher that my books would become required reading even before she got retired. I admit that I was wrong. I was convinced that I will become a history teacher so my choice of college wasn’t hard. During my studies, I published my debut work and started working for an advertising agency, and I still talk a lot. And I also write. I write in the morning, before work, from 5 to 8. I have written 5 novels, 4 collections of short prose and 4 children’s books. I was a finalist for the Kresnik Award with 4 of my novels. Two of my novels were published in German, and the third one is in preparation. My short stories are included in anthologies published in German, Slovak, Polish and English.
Svetlana Slapšak (Beograd, 1948.)
anthropologist, writer and translator
I am a refugee from the academy. When I was thrown out from my job three years ago after the ISH postgraduate studies (Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis) had been sold and when I had to get retired living on a miserable wage, because I had been working as a dean, giving lessons and running the school practically for free for many years, I got a single advantage: time. Instead of administration and pedagogy, I could write whatever I wanted, and I had the company of my best students who were in the same uncertain position as I was... There is no money in my new job, just a whole lot of simple human happiness. Despite all the hardship of publishing, I write five to six books annually – novels, studies, plays, essays, librettos for opera, travelogues, memoirs... I wish I could own just as much as to be able to translate all the Greek plays in peace before the very end. From my works I appreciate poetry the most, the one which I write by hand, in five languages, and which cannot be published.
Alenka Sottler (Ljubljana, 1958.)
painter and illustrator
I started illustrating by chance. At first, I wanted to become a painter, but because I had to eat and pay bills, after I had graduated from the Academy I first became a teacher. But I wanted to keep the creative drive alive. A chance to illustrate was given to me by the poet Boris A. Novak in the magazine Kekec. Soon my work was recognized in other places, so in the end illustration took over me. Maybe I have devoted myself to it in such an intensive manner also because I am a great fan of literature. I see the main charm of illustration in the dialogue with the writer. Since illustrations are visualized thoughts, I am not satisfied if as an illustrator I just ornament the book, but instead, through my work I have to give way to entirely new perspectives on the understanding of a story. My solutions have to be simple. However, in the end, my works don’t look simple at all, mostly because of the recognizable dashed strokes. Still, this complexity always has roots in simplicity.
Hana Stupica (Ljubljana, 1988.)
illustrator
Art has been following me since my childhood. I grew up in a family of artists, with my grandfather Gabrijel’s paintings, my grandmother Marlenka’s and my mother Marija Lucija’s fairytale-like illustrations. When I was younger I didn’t consider myself to be an artist-illustrator, but life has led me to the Academy of Arts and Design in Ljubljana. I studied Visual Communication so my view on illustration and art is generally a bit different - it’s not that artistic. At the moment I take most joy in illustrating animals in luxurious historical costumes, I am trying to catch the textures of animal fur, materials, drapery and the spirit of the time the illustration should belong to. I draw my inspiration from my own life, in an intuitive manner, without a special plan, as in sketch. I would like to apply my illustration to dolls, animation, and I am currently applying it to pottery.
Jože Suhadolnik (Ljubljana, 1966.)
photographer
Jože saw the light of day in the middle of the black’n’white sixties in Ljubljana. He was already photographing for the ex-Yugoslav news agency Tanjug and the magazine Mladina at the age of sixteen. At the beginning of the 90s, he was working as a photo reporter for the daily newspaper Dnevnik and the magazine Mladina. In the year 1993, he became one of the founders of the photo-agency Bobo and at the same time he was cooperating with agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press, and EPA. At the turn of the 20th century, he worked for several years as a photographer for the company of the Delo review. Nowadays he works as a photo reporter for the magazine Delo.
Agata Tomažić (Ljubljana, 1977.)
journalist and writer
I have graduated in French Language and Literature and Journalism. Looking back to the past, I am now well aware that everything was decided in the 2nd grade when I took part in a journalist project where our main activity was writing essays and fictitious stories. And that is why I chose to be a journalist. But after having worked in the media for almost 15 years (I used to be a journalist and then editor at Delo, main Slovene daily newspaper) I had the courage to admit to myself what I dislike the most about my job: everything I write and publish has to be true. How boring can it get?! Luckily, I was able to let myself loose in writing fiction. In 2015 my first book came out, a collection of short stories with a misleading title Things You Cannot Tell a Hairdresser. I now work for the Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts as a science communicator. Early mornings are my favourite part of the day; my creativity and writing skills are at their best at the break of dawn.
Boštjan Videmšek (Ljubljana,1975.)
journalist and writer
Longtime (anti)war journalist in the Slovenian newspaper Delo. In the last 20 years he has been reporting from Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza Strip, Israel, Somalia, Darfur, DR Congo, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Libya... His texts have been published in the biggest world newspapers – from New York Times to Politika. He won many national and international prizes and he is the author of four books: War on Terror (Vojna terorja), published also in the US, Revolt: Arab Spring & European Fall (Upor: arabska pomlad in evropska jesen), Ultrablues, and On the Run: Modern Exodus (Na Begu: Moderni eksodus), published also in Germany. Boštjan also writes plays and runs ultramarathons for fun.
Goran Vojnović (Ljubljana, 1980.)
writer, screenwriter and film director
Goran Vojnović is a retired poet, a film director on a business trip and a writer in his best years who would be glad if some day he could just be sitting and reading, drinking coffee and creating stories for the soul, rather than being obliged to write. Because creating stories is the only thing he really enjoys doing. His only problem would be that nobody would invite him anywhere then, and Goran loves feeling invited. It actually makes him happy, so over the last few years he has been spending more and more time thinking how to stop publishing books, but still to be able to visit fairs and festivals around the globe. Actually just one of them. Because when he thinks about it thoroughly, Goran Vojnović writes just for one reason – to be regularly invited to The Book Fair(y) in Istria.
Andrew Zawacki (Warren, Pennsylvania, USA,1972.)
poet
Andrew Zawacki has just begun reading Michel Butor, La Modification, / in preparation for a trip / to Rome he’ll have concluded by the time this is printed. // He is translating Pierre Bergounioux’s B-17G, which requires learning / a lot of specific aviation / terminologyhe’s unlikely to use once the project is done. // Bergounioux appeared in Godard’s Notre Musique, in 2004, long after / he’d been Andrew’s future / wife Sandrine’s schoolteacher in Orsay, just outside Paris. // Andrew started a poem two years ago, titled, after a fascinating book by / Louise A. Mozingo, Pastoral / Capital Ghazal, he’s only finishing now. But it isn’t one. // In the off hours, he rides a road bike a few times a week. At present he / ison a short break, having / wiped out in a roundabout in the rain: road rash, left hip. // Shifting gears is not like setting f-stop and shutter speed on a Rolleiflex. / To focus the lens,you have to / lookdown to see out.
